Utah didn’t just shoot its way back into the game Wednesday night. It hustled its way there.
The Runnin’ Utes erased a halftime deficit, leaned on transition chances and extra possessions, and finished off Oregon 81-77 in overtime at the Huntsman Center. After trailing 35-29 at the break and falling behind by as many as 10 in the second half, Utah scored 44 points after halftime to push the game into OT, then clamped down enough to hold the Ducks to one field goal in the extra session.
Taison Chatman buried the 3-pointer that forced overtime. Trey Campbell and Jackson Holcombe led the way with 20 points apiece, but the bigger story for Alex Jensen was how many different hands shaped the comeback.
Utah’s shooting numbers told part of the story. The Utes hit 51.3% of their shots across the second half and overtime after managing just 32.4% before halftime. That improvement was paired with 13 fast-break points, 10 second-chance points and a much wider spread of contributors.
The pace changed after intermission. Utah had only two fast-break points in the first half, then piled up 13 in the second, outscoring Oregon by nine in transition during a half it won by six.
Against a Ducks team that had blocked five shots before halftime, those early-offense looks mattered. They kept Utah from having to grind through Oregon’s set defense every trip down the floor.
The Utes were also creating chaos at the other end. Holcombe and TJ Burch finished with three steals each, and Campbell added two.
Utah totaled 11 steals, seven of them before halftime. The disruption was there early; the payoff came later.
One sequence late in the game captured the whole night. Alec Anigbata contested a post attempt, fell on the rebound and watched the ball land back with his man for what looked like a simple putback.
Holcombe slid over, rose up and blocked it. That sequence turned into a semi-transition chance going the other way, and eventually Gomma stuck with a second-chance layup, missed it, and tipped in his own miss.
Utah had to work for every inch of that possession, but it got the basket anyway.
Utah’s own ball security also improved after the break. The Utes had eight turnovers against six assists in the first half, then flipped that to 11 assists and six turnovers in the second half and overtime. That cleaner stretch helped the comeback actually stick.
Malek Gomma was one of the clearest examples of how the second half changed. He went to the locker room scoreless with three rebounds. He finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and five offensive boards, making four of his five shots after halftime.
His overtime work was huge. Gomma grabbed four rebounds in the extra period, three of them on the offensive glass, and added a basket as Utah outscored Oregon 8-4.
With the Utes going just 1-for-4 at the line in overtime, those extra chances carried real weight. Utah also boosted its second-chance scoring from four points before halftime to 10 across the second half and overtime.
Gomma also made his message clear afterward: “That’s the standard. We are so blessed to be in the position we are in right now.
To not dive on the floor for a ball, I feel like it’s selfish - selfish to the team, selfish to Coach Jensen and Wes, who invested in us. That’s just the standard for us.” - Malek Gomma
Holcombe kept Utah afloat in multiple ways. He scored 10 points in each half, but the rest of his line mattered just as much: seven rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block. Even in a rough first half, he had five boards and all three of his steals, giving Utah possessions when the offense wasn’t cooperating.
Burch gave the Utes another spark off the bench. In 18 minutes, he posted 11 points, three steals and three assists without a turnover. Seven of those points and all three of those assists came after halftime, which helped Utah recover from its sloppy opening stretch.
The shooting finally caught up to the effort. Utah improved from 4-for-15 from 3-point range in the first half to 8-for-16 across the second half and overtime.
It also got better inside, going from 7-for-19 on two-pointers to 12-for-23. Campbell finished with six made 3s.
Anigbata, who was scoreless at halftime, added eight points after the break. Gomma and Burch combined for 17 more.
Once overtime arrived, Utah finished the job at the defensive end. Oregon made just one of nine shots in the extra period, and the Utes won the rebounding battle 9-6 there.
It wasn’t perfect. Utah missed eight of its 15 free throws and allowed Oregon 10 offensive rebounds after halftime.
Those are the kinds of loose ends that can still cost a team later. But on this night, the Utes did enough of the little things to survive them.
They ran, rebounded, deflected passes, made a few clutch shots and kept extending possessions until the offense found its footing.
That was enough to turn a shaky start into a win.
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